The stories behind the buildings, statues and other points of interest that make Manhattan fascinating.

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

The 1912 James B. Duke Mansion -- No. 1 E. 78th St.

Society eyebrows were raised when the staggeringly-wealthy
James Buchanan Duke announced his engagement to the 40-year old widow, Lillian
McCredy, in 1904. The couple had known
one another only briefly and, while Mrs. McCredy was prominent socially, a
marriage so quickly seemed rash.

Duke, at 48 years of age, had amassed millions; mostly through the
tobacco business begun by his father in Durham, North Carolina. James and his brother Benjamin had gone on to
found the American Tobacco Company.

On November 29, 1904 the pair was married. They immediately sailed off for Europe for a
honeymoon of several months. The marital
bliss would be short-lived.

Whispered rumors over Limoges tea cups insinuated that
Lillian was “seeing” a man, Major Frank T. Huntoon, even before the newlyweds
returned home. Huntoon was the President
of a mineral water company located at No. 11 West 25th Street, whom
The New York Times said “is well known as a man about town.”

Sensing betrayal, Duke hired private investigators to follow
both his wife and Huntoon. The
investigations produced the undeniable evidence of an affair and Duke sued his
wife for divorce. The two-timing Lillian
received $500,000 settlement—a paltry sum when Duke’s fortune was estimated to
be approximately $60 million at the time.

In the meantime, Benjamin Duke and his wife Sarah had moved
into a magnificent new mansion at 5th Avenue and 82nd
Street a few years earlier. In December
1906 the couple gave a reception where James noticed the enchanting 34-year old
Southern-born Mrs. Nanaline Holt Inman.
The Times called Mrs. Inman, the widow of an Atlanta cotton merchant, “a
handsome brunette” who “has always attracted a considerable amount of
attention.”

Following the chance meeting The Times noticed that Duke “paid
her constant attention.” Eight months later on July 23, 1907 the couple was
married. The same newspaper noted that
the groom purchased the Henry H. Cook mansion at the northeast corner of 5th
Avenue and 78th Street for $1.6 million “as a present for his bride.” The newspaper went on to say “it stands on
one of the most exclusive blocks in the city, and the Dukes’ near neighbors
will be Payne Whitney, H. H. Rogers, and Stuyvesant Fish.”

Negotiations for the property stalled, however, perhaps
because Cook’s Victorian pile was decidedly out of date. Finally in August 1909 Duke purchased the
property for $1.25 million. Although he initially
hired C. P. H. Gilbert to remodel the hulking mansion; he soon changed his
mind.

Instead he decided to demolish it and start over. He commissioned Philadelphia-based architect
Horace Trumbauer to design a new, up-to-date mansion on the site. Trumbauer estimated the cost of the new
structure at $1 million.

“From these figures it is evident that the new home of the
tobacco magnate is to be one of the most magnificent of the famous group of
residences along the easterly side of Central Park,” remarked The Times.

Cook had outfitted his mansion with antique architectural
details that were now ripped out and resold.
The oak paneling that had cost Cook $55 per section was sold off at $3
each. An Italian fireplace and mantel
sold for $300. Cook had paid $15,000 for
it. The contractor paid to demolish the
structure called it, according to architectural historian John Tauranac “the
best-built house ever torn down in New York City.”

Trumbauer was not widely accepted by New York architects who
disapproved of his "stealing" designs from historic properties. For the Duke mansion he did just that; nearly
reproducing the Hotel Lobottiere in Bordeaux, France. The changes that he made, while subtle, resulted
in a architecturally-effective residential building on a New York City street.

The Duke House shortly after completion -- photograph Library of Congress

Architectural historians are generally in agreement that it
was not Trumbauer, solely, who was responsible for the Duke mansion; and
that his head designer, the African-American Julian Abele, was possibly
highly influential. Abele was most often overlooked during his lifetime and received little
credit for his remarkable designs until later in the century.

Completed in 1912, the Duke house stood apart from most of
its neighbors by being free-standing. A
stone balustrade wall separated the shallow lawn from the sidewalk, nearly
matched by a similar treatment at the roofline.

The Dukes moved into the house that year with their baby
girl, Doris. The museum-worthy
interiors were sumptuous; filled with the antiques and artwork collected by
Duke himself. The bulk of the furniture
was Louis XV and Louis XVI period and antique tapestries decorated room after
room.

Along the second floor hallway were two Regence tapestries
valued at $10,000 and a Gobelin tapestry, “Le Memorable Judgment de Sancho,”
assessed at over three times that much.
Another Regence tapestry hung in the dining room along with a fourfold
Bavonnieres tapestry screen. Other
tapestries included early sixteenth century Flemish, French Renaissance and Gothic
examples.

Among the priceless artworks were a terra cotta bust by
Houdon, “Second Daughter of the Artist,” in the library; Gainsborough’s “Lord
Gwydyr” and Raeburn’s “Gentleman in Red Coat” in the main hallway.

The Dukes entertained lavishly. Here in March 1913 they gave a dinner for 60,
followed by a musicale. Lucrezia Bori
and Pasqale Amto of the Metropolitan Opera entertained, as did violinist Efram
Zimbalist, according to The Sun.

The mansion on East 78th Street was convenient
for business and city entertaining; but it was not the Dukes’ main
residence. Across the river in
Somerville, New Jersey was their 2,500-acre country estate which James Duke
listed as his primary residence. In the
Summer they spent time at a former Vanderbilt “cottage,” Rough Point,” and
another magnificent mansion in Durham, North Carolina often served as a getaway
in the Winter.

In March 1925 James Duke’s first wife, Lillian, reappeared. She had lost the money left to her by her
wealthy first husband as well as the half-million divorce settlement. Lillian had studied singing under Jean
DeReszke in her happier days and was now subsisting by giving music lessons.

She now sought to recover some of the millions she lost
through her indiscretions.

Over two decades after the divorce she filed suit to set the
divorce aside and declare her the legal wife of James B. Duke. She protested in court that “perjured
testimony was given against her.” On May 15 Justice Giegerich dismissed her complaint and
upheld the divorce, as well as Duke’s marriage to Nanadine. Lillian had her attorneys set in motion an
appeal of the decision.

The appeal would never make it to the courts. James Duke contracted pneumonia
and died in the house on East 78th Street on October 10. Lillian, who was living in her music studio,
was plunged into deep depression upon receiving news of his death. Refusing to eat, she became weak, and then
suffered a cerebral hemorrhage. Within
weeks of Duke’s death she died nearly penniless.

James B. Duke’s estate was estimated at between $60 and $100
million dollars. $40 million went to
Trinity College in Durham under the
condition that the name be changed to Duke University. The bulk of the remaining estate went to
Nanadine and little Doris.

The house on East 78th Street became somewhat of
a legal problem for mother and daughter due to the wording of the will. It all ended with 14-year old Doris essentially
suing her mother over the property in what the newspapers called “a friendly
suit.”

Although the will gave Nanadine life rights to the Newport,
North Carolina and New York City mansions; it also said in another clause that
the executors must sell all real estate immediately. Doris was permitted by the terms of the will
to purchase the properties back, and the executors were to provide her with the
sufficient funds to do so.

Doris’ suit claimed the auction would be a “vain and useless
proceeding” since she would end up with the properties anyway. She also was concerned about a public
auction. “She asserts that if the
property is advertised for sale the residence in New York will be opened to the
public, and persons claiming to be prospective purchasers will go there with
the result that the property will depreciate in value,” said The Times.

No doubt Doris and her mother were not eager to have
riff-raff tromping through their home.

In the end young Doris inherited the vast real estate
holdings and, as her father directed, her mother had the right to use them for
life. Now known as “the richest girl in
the world,” Doris Duke was determined to live her life by her own rules,
despite what conventional society thought.

Four years later her debutante ball was given at Rough Point
by her mother. 600 guests were invited
who danced to the music of two orchestras in the ballroom. Doris Duke had arrived.

In 1933 she quietly celebrated her 21st birthday;
a landmark date that increased her fortune by about $30 million. The gang of journalists crowding East 78th
Street prompted her to leave the city to seek the calm of Duke Farms outside of
Somerville, New Jersey—which by now encompassed 5,000-acres. Here she admitted a handful of reporters who
asked her about her increased wealth.

“I really don’t know myself how much there is,” she said.

When the outspoken girl was asked if she intended to travel
abroad, she replied, no, “unless people go on asking me as many foolish
questions as they have tried to ask me today.”

In 1938 famed photographer Berenice Abbott juxtaposed an apartment building awning and doorman with the private mansion of Doris Duke for a project entitled "Changing New York" -- NYPL Collection

Doris Duke traveled the globe delving into exotic art,
historic preservation, and—generations ahead of her time--wildlife and
environmental conservation. She became
one of the first American collectors to discover Southeast Asian and Islamic
art and filled her homes with diverse objects d’art.

Twice married and twice divorced, she explored areas which
were still mysterious in her day:
Africa, India, the Near East and Southeast Asia. During the Second World War she earned a
salary of one dollar a year working in a canteen for sailors in Egypt. She briefly served as a foreign correspondence for the International News Service in 1945; then took up
residency in Paris to write for Harper’s Bazaar. Later, while living in Hawaii, she added to
her list of accomplishments being the first female competitive surfer.

Doris Duke arrives at LaGuardia Airport in 1947

On January 7, 1958 The Times reported that the 40,000 square-foot mansion
at No. 1 East 78th Street was now the property of New York
University’s Institute of Fine Arts. “The
three-story limestone building that will house the graduate study institute is
a gift from Mrs. Nanaline H. Duke, widow of Mr. Duke, and their daughter Doris
Duke,” the article said.

The Institute’s care in sympathetically renovating the
beautiful home earned it a New York Landmarks Conservancy award for its “superb
adaptive reuse” of the mansion.

In designating the Duke house a city landmark in 1970, the
Landmarks Preservation Commission called it “one of the adornments of Fifth
Avenue and one of the last reminders of the Age of Elegance.”